In this view of the instrument, the gas deck, two resonance
fluorescence detection modules, and two additional battery packs are clearly
visible. The inlet at the bottom is covered with a sheet of bubble wrap
to protect the inside of the instrument from dust. For chemical reasons,
the first (lowermost) detector measured ClO, the second, BrO.
This is the building that is used to prepare payloads
on the evening before flight. This is one of the examples of the excellent
facilities at Esrange.
Our instrument was incorporated into a larger payload
developed at KFA, Juelich, and flown by Ulrich Schmidt (now at University
of Frankfurt) and his colleagues to measure long-lived tracers. Their work
represents the only long-term, "continuous" record of the build up of chlorofluorocarbons
in the stratosphere, a result that mirrors the behavior in the troposphere.
This photo shows the gondola about an hour before launch, when the temperature
was about -28 C. In the left portion of the gondola is the KFA cryosampler,
our instrument in on the right, and Jim Margitan's ozone photometer is
on the top. Two additional instruments (smaller, so harder to see in the
photo) measured particles and solar flux. The all-metal open construction
of the gondola and "crush pad" are important for minimizing species that
outgas from other types of gondolas.
Inflation of the balloon on the morning of February 3,
1995. The main balloon, on the right, is 100,000 m^3, and carried the payload
to 27 km. The small auxiliary balloon at the far left is sufficient to
hold the ~400 kg payload (including load line and ballast) at neutral bouyancy
until the main balloon is released. This scheme eliminates the need for
a large crane to hold the payload, making launch easier under adverse conditions.
Our launch on February 3 occured before sunrise, so there
are no photos. However, there were a number of other launches of large
balloons at ESRANGE during SESAME. Click here
for photos of a daytime launch.
After launch, the balloon and payload are tracked continuously
by the radars on a nearby hill. This is a photo taken in the afternoon
of one of the large communcations dishes. Our balloon was tracked for several
hundred miles for three hours as it traveled in the polar jet in a southeast
direction from Kiruna. The payload was ultimately cut away onto a parachute
over Finland, and it landed between Oulu and Helsinki.